Washington BMP selection and site map (2026)
Which erosion and sediment controls does a Washington site have to show on its plan?
Washington accepts a SWPPP prepared by the operator — no professional licence is required to write it. Selecting controls from a menu is a fact about your site, not an engineering judgement, which is why Washington's preparer clause is the thing that decides whether you can do this yourself. Sizing or designing a control is the opposite, and SwpppDraft does neither.
What Washington's permit says about who may prepare the plan
The Permittee must prepare and properly implement an adequate Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP)…
Our reading of Ecology CSWGP (2026-01-01 – 2030-12-31), S9 versus S4.B:Washington requires the permittee to prepare the SWPPP; the Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Lead requirement applies to site inspections.
What the permit asks for each control
For every control, Part 7.2.6a requires four things: a description of it, its design specification — including any manufacturer specification or state erosion-control manual you are relying on — its routine maintenance specification, and the projected schedule for installing it.
The controls themselves sit in three groups: erosion and sediment controls (Part 2.2), pollution prevention (Part 2.3) and construction dewatering (Part 2.4). The questionnaire pre-ticks the near-universal ones — perimeter barrier, stabilized entrance, inlet protection — and explains when each of the others is needed.
The site map
Part 7.2.4 sets what the map has to show. It is the part of the plan a reviewer reads first, and the part a template cannot fill in for you.
- Site boundaries, drainage patterns and the direction of flow
- Every control, at the place it will actually be installed
- Surface waters and any natural buffer being kept
- On-site and off-site construction support activity areas (Part 1.2.1c)
- Areas of exposed soil and the stabilization those areas will get (Part 2.2.14)
Where a control choice changes who may write the plan
In one state the menu itself moves the answer: ticking an engineered sediment basin in Oregon puts the project on the licensed-professional side of Schedule A.21.f. That is why the questionnaire asks about the basin before it asks about anything else — a control somebody else designed is a fact about the project, and the gate reads it.
How Washington differs from the federal baseline
States with no NPDES authorisation of their own run on the EPA 2022 Construction General Permit, whose "qualified person" definition is a knowledge and skill threshold that the operator's own staff can meet — it names no licence. Washington's own permit adds no licence, exam or credential above that baseline, so there is nothing further to satisfy here.
Federal baseline: EPA 2022 CGP (no state NPDES authorisation), Appendix A definitions.
What SwpppDraft does for this document
- Offer a guided control menu where every entry carries its permit clause and one sentence saying when the site needs it
- Print the selected controls into the plan as a table with the Part 7.2.6a columns waiting to be filled from the specification you are actually using
What it does not do
- Size, design or calculate any control — no basin sizing, no hydrology, no permanent stormwater practice design
- Draw your site map. The plan says what the map has to show; the map is yours to draw
Washington BMPs and site map questions
- Which erosion and sediment controls does a Washington site have to show on its plan?
- Washington accepts a SWPPP prepared by the operator — no professional licence is required to write it. Selecting controls from a menu is a fact about your site, not an engineering judgement, which is why Washington's preparer clause is the thing that decides whether you can do this yourself. Sizing or designing a control is the opposite, and SwpppDraft does neither.
- Does SwpppDraft design the controls for me?
- No. It asks which controls the site will use and prints them with the clause each answers to, leaving the design specification, maintenance specification and installation schedule for you to fill from the specification you are using. Designing or sizing a control is engineering, and this is not an engineering service.
- Do I have to draw the site map myself?
- Yes. The plan lists what Part 7.2.4 requires the map to show, and the questionnaire collects the facts behind those items, but the drawing is yours — a generated map of a site nobody has looked at would be worse than none.
- What does the permit want written down for each control?
- Four things, under Part 7.2.6a: a description of the control, its design specification — including any manufacturer specification or state erosion-control manual you are relying on — its routine maintenance specification, and the projected schedule for installing it. The controls themselves sit under Part 2.2, Part 2.3 and Part 2.4 depending on what they are for.
- Does the map show anything besides the controls?
- It shows the boundaries and the direction water moves, the surface waters and any buffer being kept, the on-site and off-site construction support activity areas the permit covers (Part 1.2.1c), and the areas of exposed soil with the stabilization those areas will get (Part 2.2.14).
- What if I change a control part-way through the job?
- The plan and the map are modified within seven days of the change (Part 7.4.1), with the date and who authorised it recorded (Part 7.4.2–7.4.3). Moving a silt fence and not moving it on the drawing is one of the easiest findings there is.
Build a SWPPP for a site in Washington
The questionnaire and the generator run in your browser and produce a watermarked draft. Checkout is not open, so nothing can be charged.
The rest of the paperwork in Washington
- Washington SWPPP requirements — who may prepare the plan, and the clause that decides it
- Washington SWPPP (the plan itself)
- Washington Notice of Intent (NOI)
- Washington Notice of Termination (NOT)
- Washington inspection log and inspection requirements
Related questions
- What does a SWPPP template actually give you?
- What is a SWPPP?
- What are BMPs on a construction site?
- What has to be on a SWPPP site map?
Source and verification
Ecology CSWGP (2026-01-01 – 2030-12-31), S9 versus S4.B. Read the source document. State-law information on this page was verified on 2026-08-03; the federal clauses come from the EPA 2022 Construction General Permit (as modified), read 2026-08-04. County and city rules are not covered, and neither this state's filing route nor its deadlines were scanned.
What we are, and what stays your responsibility
- SwpppDraft is a document generation tool. It does not provide engineering services, legal services, or compliance consulting, and no engineer or attorney reviews what it produces.
- Everything in the document is built from the site facts you enter. Checking that those facts are right, and that the resulting plan fits your project, is yours to do.
- We do not file anything on your behalf, we do not certify or endorse your compliance, and we accept no liability for what happens when you use the document.
- State-level requirements carry the date we verified them. County and city rules are not covered — some local jurisdictions require a licensed preparer even where the state does not, and you have to check that yourself.
- When the product opens, our total liability will be capped at the amount you paid us. Today that amount is zero, because nothing is for sale.